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Australian painted dragon lizard

KSL kits used to study free radical biology in wild Australian painted dragons

This project, lead by Dr Michael Tobler, was conducted at the University of Sydney, Australia, with the aim of studying natural variation in free radical production and antioxidant defense systems in the Australian painted dragon lizard (Ctenophorus pictus, see picture). The study attempted to assess how free radicals, so often identified as factors of ageing and immune disorders, exert selection on living organisms and whether resistance (and defense) towards free radicals may drive evolution of ageing in the wild. The research team used KSL’s ABEL Cell Activation assay kits to measure the real time production of free radicals produced by leukocytes in whole blood, in response to an immune challenge. They also used KSL’s ABEL Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) assay kit to measure antioxidant levels in blood plasma. Knight Scientific Limited was directly involved in the evaluation and optimization of their test kits in the lizard model species.

Address for correspondence:

Michael Tobler, PhD Section for Animal Ecology, Lund University Ecology Building, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden michael.tobler@zooekol.lu.se

For the third year running, KSL will be at the Society of Cosmetic Scientists (SCS) Formulate exhibition.

The event is being held at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry on the 9 & 10th November 2010. Come and visit Dr Jan Knight at stand 421!

KSL produces a range of unique antioxidant test kits and offers contract testing and contract research services for the cosmetics industry. As such we can help with formulation development, quality control and quality assurance of ingredients and products.

Knight Scientific Limited joined a group of UK companies and institutes to present Medical Device Seminars in Canada. The mission was organised by UK Trade & Investment together with the Science & Innovation Network. The objective of the mission was to make contacts with potential Canadian buyers, regional medical authorities, sports medicine and rehabilitation centres and investors, via seminars and other networking activities in Canada during the Vancouver Paralympic Games. Jan Knight gave seminars in Toronto and Vancouver concentrating on KSL’s:

• unique biocompatibility tests for materials and medical devices;
• new test for monitoring athletes’ performance with the aim of preventing overtraining syndrome
• diagnostic test and instrument for point-of-care diagnosis and management of sexually transmitted diseases

KSL returned to the Society of Cosmetic Scientists (SCS) Formulate exhibition.

According to SCS Formulate website …’The Exhibition is the largest most comprehensive of its kind in the UK, bringing every conceivable ingredient, raw material and other vital tool of your trade. It’s a unique opportunity to see the new, the innovative, the proven, the everyday and the obscure - everything you need to create, make and market cosmetics for today, and tomorrow.’

Go to our downloads section to get KSL articles on antioxidant testing of cosmetic ingredients and finished products.

In partnership with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), Knight Scientific Limited was one of several organisations to join the South West trade mission to the BIO 2009 International Convention in Atlanta Georgia, USA to promote the international growth of biotechnology businesses in the South West region of England.

BIO, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, research centres and related entities across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. The BIO International Convention is the largest global event for the biotechnology industry and attracts the biggest names in biotech, offers key networking and partnering opportunities, and provides insights and inspiration on the major trends affecting the industry.

Visit BIO 2009 website

KSL was again on the road, this time exhibiting at SCS Formulate at The International Centre in Telford, UK.

The Society of Cosmetics Scientists has turned Formulate into to the UK’s largest annual exhibition presenting the latest developments in ingredients technology and formulation technique.

Photography © Getty Images

The following is taken from The English Institute of Sport website www.eis2win.com following a the success of the British Olympic Sailing Squad at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

SCIENCE OF SAILING by Rebecca Lee

Following a medal haul which saw Britain’s squad top the medal table of the Beijing Olympic Sailing competition, the shores of Southampton and Weymouth welcomed back the successful GB Sailing squad.

In sailing it is not only the athletes who need to conquer the art and science of their sport but also the team supporting them. The practitioners that work within the RYA sports science team constantly look to maintain and extend the British team’s competitive edge before and during the Olympic Games by keeping on top of the latest scientific tools and techniques. Going into the Beijing Games, a strong support team ensured that the finer details of athlete preparation were backed up by meticulous planning.

The RYA sports science team, led by RYA Senior Sports Scientist Dr Pete Cunningham and supported by the English Institute of Sport (EIS), has embraced some of the most innovative research techniques, including a blood test involving a marine mollusc. One of the partnerships that contribute to ensuring the squad are ahead of the game is with the pathology labatories at St Helier Hospital, Carlshalton and Birmingham’s Heartlands hospital.

The innovative blood test, which uses luminous chemicals taken from the common piddock, a marine mollusc, has been utilised by the RYA support team working closely with the developers Knight Scientific. Preliminary evidence has suggested that the test may detect the earliest signs of infection and overtraining in the sailors.

The test uses a pinprick of blood which is then mixed in a test tube with pholasin, a protein which gives off light when in contact with free radical chemicals from the mollusc. The light levels emitted are measured and can provide vital information on whether treatment for the infection should begin, training continue or whether extra rest is necessary.

“Our primary objective was to monitor the athletes individually and to reduce the number of training days lost through illness or infection” said EIS Applied Physiologist (Haematology) Dr Brian Moore.

“This was especially true given the racing conditions in Qingdao. We developed integrated systems that facilitated real time (within minutes) haematological and biochemical analysis. This enabled us to provide rapid information to the team physician Dr David Gorrod, Senior Sports Scientist, Dr Pete Cunningham and EIS Nutritionist Nathan Lewis, enabling performance impacting decisions to be made” he added.

This new method of measuring white blood cell activity has proved to be an effective tool for monitoring interventions that have a proven impact on performance within the sailing squad. With the light winds in Qingdao, EIS Nutritionist Nathan Lewis and Pete Cunningham needed to work with the team to reduce the sailor’s bodyweight whilst maintaining training loads.

“Cutting athletes bodyweight through energy restriction can delay recovery from heavy training and in turn place the athlete at an increased risk of infection” said Lewis. “This test provided an additional means of monitoring the immune system, which is sensitive to mental and physical stress, and in turn helped guide some of the nutrition support strategies and supplementation practices” he added.

RYA’s Senior Sport Scientist Pete Cunningham said; “It was clear that this assay developed by Knight Scientific is very sensitive to stress, albeit physical or mental stress and illness, and was successfully used by Skandia Team GBR in the run up to the Olympics to monitor recovery and look for early warning signals of illness.”

Whilst the technique has predominantly been used within sailing, there’s no reason why other sports can’t benefit from this scientific breakthrough.

Hidden Valley Expedition

Coventry University Human Physiologist Dr Doug Thake has just returned from a successful 6 week research expedition to the remote Hidden Valley in Western Nepal, which followed the route of the circuit Dhaulagiri, the 7th highest mountain in the world. Doug lead one of nine research project’s that where conducted by an international team of 46 medical doctors and research scientists, all members of ‘Medical Expeditions’. Medical Expeditions is a research charity dedicated to investigating the mechanisms of altitude related illness with the aim of educating mountaineers, trekkers and their doctors about the nature and avoidance of altitude related illnesses.

Doug’s research team investigated changes in immunity and oxidative stress at altitude. This work will add to the increasing body of literature on the physiological basis for increased infection rates observed at altitude and also shed some light on the mechanisms behind Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), a debilitating condition often experienced on ascent to high altitude. Many measurements were made at the team’s base camp that was at an altitude of 5100 m with ambient temperatures reaching -25 degrees C at night time.

Doug explains:

“Amongst some more standard measurements a novel technique developed by Knight Scientific Ltd, UK, recently used by the GB sailing team in preparation for the Beijing Olympics and adopted by UK athletics, was used to measure the activity of immune cells at rest and during recovery after exercise at base camp. Data can then be related to infection symptom and acute mountain sickness scores recorded on a daily basis and compared to sea level immune cell activity recorded at a pre expedition meeting at Bangor University this earlier summer.”

Work will continue on 1.5 litres of saliva and 1000 blood samples that have been successfully transported in a frozen state by foot; on horseback; jeep; light aircraft and courier back to the UK! Doug also met the King of Lo Mantang, a region visited by less than 1500 westerners a year, after a 35 mile trek through high altitude desert of Mustang.

This kind of expedition is essential to the work of the Medical Expeditions research team as it is the only way of properly assessing the natural effects of high altitude.

Doug comments:

“Medical Expeditions is a fantastic organisation bringing together researchers from around the World. It is able to provide the infrastructure around which such investigations can be planned. The expedition was a great opportunity to test laboratory based theories regarding how humans respond to altitude exposure within the natural environment.”